Climates during the Spread of Farming in the Mediterranean

Thomas Huet

University of Oxford

Niccolò Mazzucco

Università di Pisa

with the collaboration of Andrea Manica

University of Cambridge

Introduction

Late Foragers and Early Farmers

Late Mesolithic (LM)¹

Early Neolithic (EN)²

LM * Residenciality increase * Circular mobility to access discontinuous resources in time and space (seasonality) * Low demography EN * Permanent settlements * Logistic mobility to access localized resources for farming economy * High demography Cold weather favors a greater mobility. A la fin du Dryas III, vers 9,600 BC: amélioration du climat, et diminution des grands herbivores clairement documentée au Moyen-Orient et dans le Nouveau Monde, force les HG à intensifier leur foraging Climates: Near East is temperate and wet, North Africa transitioned to arid conditions, Southern Europe experienced is warmer and wetter Fertile Crescent | cultigens. , soil fertility for agriculture (cereals) and climates for livestock. Climates: broadly warm and stable The different periods defines characteristic anthropological moments. Conventional division in 3 phases, both for the Mesolithic and Neolithic. Standardized and heuristic way to represent the evolution of a culture. We represent here, using large brushes

Framework

Data: radiocarbon dates and palaeoclimatic data.

Neonet project

• Meso/Neo
• Dataset
• Online app
• Functions
• Openness

Early Mesolithic (EM)
Middle Mesolithic (MM)
Late Mesolithic (LM)
Early Neolithic (EN)
Middle Neolithic (MN)
Late Neolithic (LN)

Baume de Montclus, stacked SPD

Franchthi cave, stacked SPD

http://shinyserver.cfs.unipi.it:3838/C14dev/

source("R/neo_spd.R")
source("R/neo_spdplot.R")

neo_spd(df.c14 = df.c14)

• Open Data, Open Source, Open Access
• Scalable, Incrementable, Reusable, Analyzable

Materials and Methods

Data: radiocarbon dates and palaeoclimatic data.

Radiocarbon data

• Sources
• 3rd parts
• Alignment
• Outliers
• ROI
• Worflow

https://github.com/ropensci/c14bazAAR

https://github.com/zoometh/neonet

https://github.com/ahb108/rcarbon

Brami, M.N. A graphical simulation of the 2,000-year lag in Neolithic occupation between Central Anatolia and the Aegean basin. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 7, 319–327 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0193-4

ref_table_per.xlsx

EM - Early Mesolithic

MM - Middle Mesolithic

LM - Late Mesolithic

EN - Early Neolithic

MN - Middle Neolithic

LN - Late Neolithic

• 8 different databases and datasets. Among which 2 are the Neonet datasets. We collect using the c14bazAAR and curated with NeoNet functions.
• mapping table with period and culture coming from different datasest to be mapped to the Neonet main classes (10 classes, among which 4 are undefined and period transition).
• Using

c14_aberrant_dates.tsv

• With R functions coming from the C14bazaar R package and curated with the NeoNet R series of functions, we are gathering some 10,000 radiocarbon dates coming from 8 different datasets and databases.
• We map these dates to the Neonet periods (here on the left class).
• Then we remove duplicated dates and discard outliers (currently in process).
• Some 4,000 dates are now available for the study.

Radiocarbon dataset

• EN
• LM

Climates data and model

• Sources
• Variables
• Methods

Mean annual temperature (ºC)

Annual precipitation (mm year ^-1)

Biome (pollen-based)

Beyer et al. 2020³

https://github.com/EvolEcolGroup/pastclim

A <- Thot >= 18 & !B
Af <- A & Pdry >= 60
Am <- A & !Af & Pdry >= 100 - MAP / 25
Aw <- A & !Af & Pdry < 100 - MAP / 25

function pastclim::koeppen_geiger()

code	climate	colors
A*	Tropical
B*	Arid
C*	Temperate
D*	Cold
E*	Polar

function neoent::neo_kss_create()

• pastclim R package to recreate the Koppen Climate classification (KCC) for past periods, currently from 8,000 BC to 5,000 cal BC (expressed here in cal BP)
• KCC based on average temperature and precipitation patterns, dividing them into five main types: tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar. Each type is further subdivided based on seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns (30 classes).
• The pastclim KCC current resolution is 30” = 0.5 degrees = c. 50 km. It uses the Beyer et al. 2020 dataset.

Modelling dates

• Dates medians and KCC extraction
• Dates interpolation

Most recent LM and most ancient EN date weighted medians (w-mendian) by site

• For a given site, we select either the most recent LM date (ex: Monte Frignone) or simetrically the most ancient EN date (ex: Le Baratin)
• Extract on the radiocarbon date weighted median from the Summed probability density (SPD)

• With R functions coming from the C14bazaar R package and curated with the NeoNet R series of functions, we are gathering some 10,000 radiocarbon dates coming from 8 different datasets and databases.
• We map these dates to the Neonet periods (here on the left class).
• Then we remove duplicated dates and discard outliers (currently in process).
• Some 4,000 dates are now available for the study.

• For a given site, we select either the most recent LM date (ex: Monte Frignone) or simetrically the most ancient EN date (ex: Le Baratin)
• Extract on the radiocarbon date weighted median from the Summed probability density (SPD)

Spread of Neolithic in the Mediterranean

Radiocarbon dates are still being revised, and many of them need to be verified. First modeling

Near East (9,000 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions

• Neolithic mostly on Csa (Temperate, dry summer, hot summer) and BSk (Temperate, dry summer, warm summer) climates
• North and South Levant farmers separated byDsa (Cold, dry summer, hot summer) climates: Mount Lebanon mountain range.
• Cyprus early settlement: Klimonas (idf 51).

Near East (8,500 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions

• Small changes in the estimated area with Neolithic economy
  
• Southward: new neolithic occupation in a BWh climate (Arid, desert, hot): Shkarat Msaied (idf 78).

Near East (8,000 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions

• Mount Lebanon range (Dsa) still existing as a frontier between North Levant and South Levant Neolithic
• Central Anatolia Plateau (BSk) with new sites: Asikli Höyük (idf 10), Kaletepe (idf 50) and Pinarbasi A (idf 69)

Near East (7,500 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions

• Only one new occupation on the Central Anatolian Plateau, Musular (id 64): barrier
• In Southern Levant, close concentration of occupations in different climates, Csa, BSk, BWh and newly BSh (Arid, steppe, hot)
• BSh sites: Nahal Efe (id 65), Hemar (id 42)

Central Anatolian barrier

• 7,300 BC
• 7,000 BC
• 6,700 BC

Aegean (6,600 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions

• Aegean Sea and Aegean shore are ‘neolithised’ before Northern Anatolia, and even before South central Anatolia.
• Earliest neolithic sites are those having pre-neolithic (i.e. Mesolithic) obsidian coming from Melos: Maroulas (idf 27), Franchthi (idf 17) and Cyclops Cave (idf 11), no climate data available.
• Confirms: Brami 2015⁴.

Aegean (6,200 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions
• Aegean and Adriatic river basins

• In Greece, Thessaly and Macedonia, dense settlements in BSk climates (Sesklo, Paliambela, Anzabegovo, etc. )
• First Neolithic in Northern Aegean (Ugurlu, idf 44) related to first Neolithic in Northwestern Anatolia: Barcin (idf 9), Aktopraklik (idf 2)
• The Neolithic pioneer front seems to slow down in Western Greece (ridge line, river basins), exception: Sidari (idf 42) and Northern Greece.
• New climate: Cfa (Temperate, no dry season, hot summer). Sites: Mavropigi (idf 19), Lefkopetra (idf 28), Ofeas (idf 32)

Aegean (5,800 BC)

• Climates
• Sites
• Assumptions

• Rapid expansion in the Southern Balkans (Csa and BSk).
• Northern Balkans expansion required adapting agriculture and stockbreeding systems to colder climates (Dfa, Dfb)
• Slowdown of Neolithic expansion. Early northern occupations, such as Porodin (idf 26).
• South of Italy (off the map) is reached, probably from Corfu: Sidari (idf 40)
• Confirms: Krauß et al. 2018⁵, Ivanova et al. 2018⁶.

Western Mediterranean (in BC)

• 5600
• 5300

End of the Mediterranean Neolithisation

Climates evolution

• Late foragers: Drop of the inhabited cold climates from 11k BP to 7k BP. In 9k BP newly occupied occupied Cold, dry summer, cold summer, possibly corresponding to the higher mountain range (Atlas, Alps, Pyrenees, etc.)
• Early Farmers: 11k and 10k 2 main climates, continuous area: Fertile Crescent. Arid climates increases in 9k: arid margins (oasis). 8k and 7k: neolithisation of cold and temperated areas (Bulgaria, Southern Germany, etc.)
• Comparison: LM occupied a larger diversity of ecozones. EF replace HG in cold climate over 4,000 years
  

Discussion

Rproductible methods. Enhancement of cultural and climatic data

Climates occupied by the Early Farmers

Thank you

https://github.com/zoometh/neonet

• Contribution: mapping table (archaeologists), interpolation methods (mathematician), aggregating data from other sources (aDNA, etc.), etc.

Footnotes

1. Late Foragers. Create an image in a portrait layout of: A Mediterranean coastal area, view from distance (bird eye), during the Late Mesolithic, with a temperate to cold and humid climate, showing an estuary river banks and a part of a marsh. The dominant colors in the image should be cool tones, such as blues and green, and the people should be dressed in furs suitable for cold to temperate climates (Koppen climate classes: Cfb and Dfa). Include only 5 characters: A women collecting sea shells and collecting fruits and wild seeds in cane baskets. A children collecting wild seeds in cane baskets. A man fishing with a vegetal net. A woman hunting ducks with a bow. A man skinning a fish. Include only these items: A vegetal net An arrow. Living wild animals should be distant from humans. The characters and animals in the image must be realistic. The faces of the people should be well-defined. The tools should be made of wood, flints and bones only. The image should have: No domestic animals. No ceramic potteries. No glass. No candle or wood fire. Do not include anything that I didn’t described

2. Early Farmers. The scene depicts a Mediterranean landscape set in a river valley of the inland Iberian Peninsula during the Neolithic period. The environment reflects the typical Mediterranean vegetation, including holm oaks, oak trees, and shrubs. The landscape shows a mosaic of forests and small cereal fields, with more emphasis on the dense forest. In the foreground, a group of five people is working in the fields, harvesting wheat using wooden and flint sickles. The group consists of three men and two women, all dressed in prehistoric brown wool and linen garments, appropriate for the period. In the background, there is a small flock of black goats and brown sheep, which are being watched over by an elderly woman and a child, both holding wooden staffs. The animals are enclosed within a small wooden pen located far from the cereal fields prompt@ChatGPT.

3. Beyer, R. M., Krapp, M., & Manica, A. (2020). High-resolution terrestrial climate, bioclimate and vegetation for the last 120,000 years. Scientific data, 7(1), 236.

4. Brami, M. N. (2015). A graphical simulation of the 2,000-year lag in Neolithic occupation between Central Anatolia and the Aegean basin. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 7, 319-327.

5. Krauß, R., Marinova, E., De Brue, H., & Weninger, B. (2018). The rapid spread of early farming from the Aegean into the Balkans via the Sub-Mediterranean-Aegean Vegetation Zone. Quaternary International, 496, 24-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.019

6. Ivanova, M., De Cupere, B., Ethier, J., & Marinova, E. (2018). Pioneer farming in southeast Europe during the early sixth millennium BC: Climate-related adaptations in the exploitation of plants and animals. PLoS One, 13(5), e0197225. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197225

7. Ammerman, A. J., & Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. (1971)[^2]. Measuring the rate of spread of early farming in Europe. Man, 674-688.

8. Fort, J. (2022). The spread of agriculture: quantitative laws in prehistory?. In Simulating Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory (pp. 17-28). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

9. Betti, L., Beyer, R. M., Jones, E. R., Eriksson, A., Tassi, F., Siska, V., … & Manica, A. (2020). Climate shaped how Neolithic farmers and European hunter-gatherers interacted after a major slowdown from 6,100 BCE to 4,500 BCE. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(10), 1004-1010.

10. Binder, D., Angeli, L., Gomart, L., Huet, T., Maggi, R., Manen, C., … & Tagliacozzo, A. (2019, March). L’Impresso-cardial du nord-ouest et ses rapports avec la «zone-source»: une synthèse chrono-culturelle. In Céramiques imprimées de Méditerranée occidentale. Matières premières, productions, usages.